No ducking hunters

Gordon and Linda West were awakened just before 6 a.m. Wednesday by the sound of gunfire outside their home on Beach Drive.

ANGEL McCURDY / Daily News

DESTIN — Gordon and Linda West were awakened just before 6 a.m. Wednesday by the sound of gunfire outside their home on Beach Drive.

“My instinct was to grab a gun and start shooting, but I talked myself down,” Gordon said.

When the couple looked out over Joe’s Bayou, they realized it was duck hunters who were wading through the water toward their kill. After hours of calling local and state agencies, they learned that it is legal.

“It’s just 100 yards across to the next home but it’s perfectly legal,” Gordon said from his dock on the bayou. “This has happened two or three times every weekend and now this week. We never would have thought someone would hunt here.”

Waterfowl hunters in Florida have from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1 and from Dec. 7 to Jan. 26 at sundown to hunt birds. Youths 16 years old and under can hunt Feb. 1 and 2 if accompanied by an adult.

Hunters are required to have proper licenses, including a migratory bird license and hunting license. They start hunting 30 minutes before legal sunrise.

“Unless (the hunters) are in federally protected areas such as a military base, the (waterways) are open to waterfowl hunting,” said Stan Kirkland, spokesman for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “We get the same kind of calls from the Intracoastal Waterways going right on over to Santa Rosa County.”

Kirkland said this year’s cold weather has brought more different types of ducks south than in previous years, “reaping a bonanza” that he said may contribute to more hunters on the water.

The Wests say they’re concerned for a number of reasons. Gordon, a former Air Force Security Forces officer, says the gunfire triggers his post traumatic stress disorder.

The couple now will think twice before going out with their small dog early in the morning and be wary of where they park their boat.

“The whole idea for this area is that it is a sanctuary,” Gordon said. “We never thought they’d be hunting here. It’s too close.”

Kirkland said hunters are within the law if they are on the water and shooting solely at ducks.

“That doesn’t mean a homeowner can’t file a complaint if they feel like there’s a violation,” Kirkland said. “But the complaints we’ve had have been on hunters who are lawfully and legally there.”

Tim Krueger says he’s been living with the sounds of duck hunters in his backyard since he moved into home on Cobbs Point nine years ago. He phoned authorities at first, but soon learned he would just have to wait out duck hunting season each year.

“I’m not attacking hunting, but I don’t appreciate being woken up at 5:30 in the morning during holidays and weekends,” Krueger said. “If I had a live band or loud stereo, the police would come and tell me to turn the sound down. It’s one thing to hear a saw or a lawn mower, but a gun is another matter.”

Krueger said he not concerned about hunters’ shotguns. He says his problem is 90 percent noise and 10 percent safety.

“I understand what they’re doing, but I do wish they weren’t 20 feet from my dock,” he said.